Hyderabad: The proposal to appoint drivers for She Taxi has received very poor response. Till the deadline that was set by the Committee, only four women with transport licenses and 11 with light motor vehicle licences have come forward.
The proposal, which was initiated according to the recommendations of the Women’s Safety Committee appointed by the government, was ratified by a government order, followed by a notification calling for women drivers with several sops like 35 per cent subsidy and free training.
Given the poor response, the committee has extended the deadline till December 27.
“The committee has announced several benefits for women drivers like free training with stipend, free accommodation and cabs with the help of private taxi services, till they get new ones,” said RTO joint commissioner Venkateswarlu.
He added, “The Women’s Welfare department and several banks are coming forward to help the aspiring candidates for training and loans to buy the vehicles. Out of 48 applications, only 15 had licences and were eligible for the project.”
Road Transport officials are also looking for help from several NGOs to publicise the benefits of the scheme so that more women drivers come forward.
“When women get free training in tailoring and several other skills, why not driving?” asked Vijaya Reddy, managing director for She Cabs, which is exclusively meant for women and by women.
She added, “It’s not easy to find women drivers and unless we specially train them, and have a monitoring body for this project, it cannot be a success.”
Meanwhile, many are finding it very difficult to approach the officials for the scheme as the applications are only received online.
“Not every woman knows how to apply online and there is no desk to help women candidates at the RTO office to guide us about the scheme,” said an applicant, Boyapati Indu.
Meanwhile, the proposal to start a She Taxi service in the city without proper guidelines has opened the doors to misuse.
Will these women have a monitoring body after getting the car sanctioned and allotted to them? Will these women drive them or hand the cabs over to their male family members? These are questions that have been surfacing.
“We were called to the Road Transport Office and the officials asked for our certificates and licence. That's it,” said Haindavi, one of the applicants.
